Day 28, Cave in Rock, IL 57 miles

Goodbye Kentucky! Today's ride took us through some pleasant farm country with easy, rolling hills. We arrived just in time to get on the small ferry that would take us to the other side of the Ohio river and into Illinois, however a few humungus river tugs pushing barges had the right-of-way, so we had to roast on the deck on the open-air boat for an extra half hour. A short ride after docking took us to a campground in Cave in Rock State park, named for the cave in the cliffs overlooking the Ohio that pirates once used to hide in after raiding riverboats.

We've managed to start some pretty good biker-tans. For many years, most of you probably envied our sexy " farmer tans". We have graduated from that version to the classic cyclist tan, featuring white hands and feet, plus Mike (with his receding hairline) sports the "helmet vent stripe".

We've also managed to baffle cyclists we've met by being able to guess with uncanny accuracy the direction they are doing the TransAm route. Our secret: the orientation of their tan. Darker on the left means going west. Darker on the right - headed east. An even tan means either they've gotten lost a lot or they're faking the trip and stopping at a tanning bed now and then. Another giveaway is if they pass us from behind or from the front.